High-side gondola car.



No. 685,452.. Patented out. 29, |901, s. l. Kms.

HIGH SIDE GONDOLA GAR.

(Application filed Aug. 10, 1901.)

(Nn Model.)

oooooonoq PATENT OFFICE.

'GEORGE I. KING, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN AND FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

HIGH-SlDE GONDOLA CAR.

SPECIFICATION 'forming pare or 'Letters Patent No. 685,452, dated october 29, 190i.

Application filed August 10| 1901l Serial No. 71,550. (No model.)

To af/ZZ whom t may concern.-

Beit known that I, GEORGE I. KING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Vayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in High-Side Gondola Cars; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled' in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification, in whichv Figure lis a top plan view of my improved car, part of the flooring being removed at one end to show the floor-frame underneath. Fig. 2 is a side elevational View, partly in section. Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view on the line III III, Fig. 2. Fig. 4t is a modified form wherein the center sill is cut away in order that the web of the compression member of the truss may be flush with the flooring, the door-sheets being anged downvand riveted to the depending flanges of the compression member; and Fig. 5 is a view of another modification, in which the floor-sheetsl are riveted to the web of the compression member.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in that type of cars known as gondola, particularly high-side gondola cars, although it is obvious that many of the details shown in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter described may be employed in other types of cars.

The object of my presentinvention is to construct a car of rolled or pressed metal and to so arrange and combine the parts as to obtain vthe greatest strength with a comparatively small dead-weightof material used.

Another object isto simplify the construction of cars of the type mentioned, rendering the parts thereof easy of assemblage and repair.

The underlying principle of my present invention is to utilize the side walls with their associate flanges 'as plate-girders, whereby said side walls carry a portion of the load.

Center sills are employed to take the buffing and pulling stresses; but these center sills are not, as usual, relied upon as the main supports for the car-body. Heretofore gondola cars have been constructed where the side walls and their associate iianges acted as plate-girders to carry a portion of the load.'l These side girders intermediate the bolsters also carried the cross-beams which supported the Hoor of the car between the bolsters and also the center sills which rested thereon. My present construction contemplates the utilization of the side walls and their associate flanges as plate-girders, said plate-girder side walls supporting the center sills at points intermediate the bolsters through the medium of transversely-arranged trusses. By this construction I avoid the greater depth necessary in a structure such as above referred to and which contemplated the use of a transversely-arranged beam extending between the walls under the center sills. Thus I obtain a better -side clearance-say for a a height of from two to three feet above the rails-as the angle arranged on the outer faces of the side walls inthe transverse planes of the trusses do not extend so far below the lower edges of the side walls of the car. It will be noted that by reasonof the substitution of the trusses for the suspended beams and in addition to the advantages above enumerated a considerable saving in dead- Weight of these parts is effected.

With these objects in view the invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of thel several parts', all as will hereinafter be described and afterward pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, 1 indicates end sills, which may be of any ordinary or approved construction, I having shown a channel.

2 indicates the body-bolsters, which are preferably I-shaped, said body-bolsters being continuous from side to side ofthe car.

3 indicates the draft-sills, which are attached throughl suitable connectionplates to the end sills and body-holsters. p

4 indicates the center sills, which are preferably in the form of channels with their Iianges presented outwardly, said center sills extending from :bolster to bolster, to 4which the holsters, I prefer to employ connection` plates 6.

7 indicates posts arranged exteriorly the side walls in the transverse planes of the holsters, said posts extending down to the lower edges of the connection-plates 6 and being composed,preferably,of angles arranged hack to hack. The laterally-extending legs of these angles are preferably sheared, as shown, in order to taper the ends of the posts. Thus the posts are made sufdciently strong to resist lateral bulging tendencies in the side walls of the car where loose loads are carried.

8 indicates the floor-sheets,which are flan ged down at their side edges and riveted to the lower edges of the side walls. These flanged door-sheets serve as tension-flanges for the plate-girder side walls; but it is obvious that an angle may be riveted to the side walls, to which the floor-sheets could he riveted, said angle also serving as a side sill, in which capacity it could help take care of the huing and pulling stresses.-

11 indicates the end sheets, which are secured at their lower edges in some suitable manner to the end sills.

12 indicates angles attached to the upper edges of the end and side s-heets of the car, the horizontal legs of said angles preferably extending outwardly.

13 indicates connection-plates depending from the lower edges of the side walls at points intermediate the holsters, there being preferably two of these plates on opposite sides of the carin the trans-verse planes of' the trusses.

15 indicates one member of a truss, which preferably extends from side to side of the car, said member passing over the center sill, while the other member 16 preferably passes from side to side of the car and under the center sill. Member 15 is the compression member, preferably in the form of a Z-har, whose top ange supports the floor-sheets, which are attached thereto, while the bottom flange is attached to the center sill. Member 16 is the tension member, preferably in the form of a fiat plate, bent as an arch-har. The ends of these members are connected to gether, the tension member being bent to have a good hearing under the ends of the compression member, while castings 17 are Vinterposed between and secured to the diverging portions of said members near their junction. Castings 18 are also arranged under the junction of the members and for some little distance along the inclinedportions of the tension members for the purpose of making good connections at the ends of the truss. These castings 18 are riveted to the connection-plates 13, as shown.

It is obvious that the compression member of the truss above described serves as a floorheam and that it need not he continuous. It may be interrupted and so arranged as to have its top fiange Hush with the top flanges of the center sills, in which event the floorsheet would be riveted to said flanges and serve as a cover-plate for the center sill.

In the above construction the center sill would not he cut away. As shown in Fig. 4, however, the center sill 4; may he cut away in order that the compression memherln may he received therein, so that its web will be flush with the floor-sheets, said floor-sheets (indicated at 8a) being flanged down and riveted to the depending flanges of the compression member. In this construction it will he noticed that the floor-sheets serve as coverplates for the center sill, and by being flanged across the car and attached to the compression member said compression member is greatly strengthened and a structure in the nature of a reinforced floor-beam or floor-supL portis produced. 1Ga indicates the tension member. In Fig. 5 the center sill 4b' is likewise cut away for the compression member 15", the floor-sheet Sb being riveted to the iianges of the center sill and to the web of the compression member. 1Gb indicates the tension member.

In both Figs. 4 and 5 instead of employing a Z-shaped compression member to serve as a floor-beam I use a channel, the legs thereof being presented downwardly.

It will also be obvious that the tension member need not he continuons, hut made in two parts, having their inner ends widened and riveted to each side and at the lower edges of the center sills.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a car' where there are two truss-frames, as above descrihed,arranged intermediate the holsters, these truss-frames serving to support the center sills at these points. In the transverse planes of these truss-frames exteriorlythe side walls are arranged stiffening braces or posts 19, preferably composed of angles arranged hack to hack, the outwardly-extend ing legs of which are tapered toward the upper and lower ends thereof.

Iam aware that many minor changes in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of my improved car can he made and substituted for those herein shown and described without in the least departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure hy Letters Patent, is

1. In a car, the combination with hody-ho1 sters, of a center sill, side walls which act as plategirders, and trusses supported by said loro IIO

cs5,45a

side walls for carrying the center sill intermediate the holsters, the compression members of said trusses acting as door-beam s, substantially as described.

2. In a car, the combination with body-bolsters, of a center sill extending between and secured to said holsters, draft-sills attached to the holsters, side walls attached to the ends of the holsters and supported thereby, said side Walls acting as plate-girders, and transversely-arranged trusses for supporting the center sill from the side walls at points intermediate the holsters, the compression members of said trusses acting as floor-beams, substantially as described.

3. In a car, the combination with body-holsters continuous from side to side of the car, of a center sill extending from bolster to bolster and secured thereto, side walls attached to the ends of the holsters and provided with compression-flanges at their upper edges and tension-anges at their lower edges, whereby said side Walls and their associate flanges act as plate-girders, and trusses carried thereby for supporting the center sill between the holsters, the compression members of said trusses acting as Hoor-beams, substantially as described.

et. In a car, the combination with hody-holsters, of a center sill, side walls which serve as webs of a plate-girder structure, and a trussed structure carried bythe side walls for supporting the center sill at a point intermediate the holsters, said `trussed structure comprising a compression member secured to the lower edges of the plate-girders and to the upper edges of the center sill, said compression member also having the floor-sheet attached thereto throughout its length, and a tension member secured to the lower yedges of the plate-girders and the lower edges of the center sill, substantially as described.

5. In a car,- the combination with the side Walls in the form of plate-girders, of oor=sheets flanged at their side edges and attached to the lower edges of the side walls, holsters, a center sill, and a truss for supporting the center sill intermediate the bolsters,said truss being composed of a Z-shaped compression member to which the door-sheet is attached,

and an inverted-arch tension member, sub

stantially as described.

6. In a car, the combination with side walls in the form of plate-girders, of a center sill, a truss for supporting the center sill from the plate girders, the compression member of said truss acting as a ioor-beam, and posts arranged exteriorly the plate-girders and`in the transverse plane of the truss, substantially as described.

7.V In a car, the combination with bodybol sters, of a center sill, side walls which act as plate-girders, and trusses supported by said side walls for carrying the center sill intermediate the holsters, the compression members of said trusses forming part of the floor of the car, substantially as described.

8. In a car, the combination with bodybol; sters, of a center sill, side walls which actas plate-girders, and trusses supported by said side walls for carrying the center sill intermediate the holsters, the compression members of said trusses being in the form of channels and having the floor-sheets riveted to the depending legs thereof, substantially as described.

9. In a car, the combination with body-holsters, of a center sill, side walls which actas plate-girders, and trusses supported hy said side walls for carrying the center sill intermediate the holsters, the compression mem# bers of said trusses being in the form of channels With their legs presented downwardly,- said channels being seated inopenings or recesses formed in the upper edge of the cen# ter sill, the iioor of the car being riveted to said channels, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE I. KING.

Witnesses:

A. PANcoAsT, F. R. CORNWALL. 

